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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Stuart Heritage

Forget Jurassic Park: inside the gorgeous David Attenborough series that’s redefining dinosaurs

A dinosaur from Prehistoric Planet
Strange new world … Prehistoric Planet features stunning CGI and camerawork that brings these long-dead creatures alive. Photograph: Apple TV

Jurassic Park was released 30 years ago, but in those three decades our perception of dinosaurs has largely remained static. In the public consciousness, they were giant, scaly beasts with huge claws and teeth who spent their days chasing down victims and ripping them apart in brutal fashion. Think dinosaur and you will probably picture a primal, primitive force of unbelievable fury.

And then along comes the new series of Prehistoric Planet (Apple TV+), which, in a single instant, undoes almost everything we thought we knew. The instant in question concerns the Hatzegopteryx: a vast, vicious-looking, giraffe-sized pterosaur. Had the Hatzegopteryx been depicted on screen at any point until now, it would undoubtedly have been to swoop down like a monster and gobble up its prey.

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